Internet use has grown tremendously in recent years. The types and sources of content on the Internet have also grown. For example, computer users often access the Internet to download video, audio, multimedia, or other types of content for business, entertainment, education, or other purposes. Today, users can view live presentations of events, such as sporting events, as well as stored content, such as videos and pictures. The providers of such content typically want to have some level of control over the manner in which the content is viewed and by whom. For example, the provider of videos may want certain videos (e.g., selected videos, or type or class of videos) to be encrypted upon distribution. Users typically want content “on-demand”, and would prefer not to wait a long time for download before viewing the content. Certain types of content tend to take longer than others to download. For example, download of a movie can take many minutes or hours, depending on the type of download technology used and the size of the movie file.
Typically, providers of Internet content are separate entities from the network providers that provide the infrastructure to distribute the content. To reach a very large audience, content providers typically purchase the services of a content delivery network provider, which generally has a large network infrastructure for distributing the content. However, because content providers typically do not have control over distribution, the providers typically have limited control over how, or to whom, the content is distributed. In addition, content providers do not have access to internal content and network analytics within the content delivery networks.